Marshalls, the specialist landscaping products business, has repaid the £9.4m it received from the furlough scheme back to the government.
This is as a result of an improved outlook and stronger trading position than expected. Martyn Coffey, Chief Executive of Marshalls plc, said:
As always we have put the health and safety of our people first and I am very proud of how they have risen to challenges...
“At Marshalls, we aim to do the right things, for the right reasons, in the right way. It has always been our intention to pay back the furlough money if we were able, and I’m really pleased that we are in a position to do so.
This has been a tough year for everyone but we’re encouraged by the strong demand for our domestic products as well as a quicker than expected recovery in commercial and public sectors. As always we have put the health and safety of our people first and I am very proud of how they have risen to challenges and worked in different ways to support our customers and partners.”
Throughout the pandemic, Marshalls has continued to support its staff by topping up the salaries of those on furlough, creating safer working environments for those in operations and enabling office staff to work from home.
On top of this, sizeable donations to charity have also been made; Martyn added:
“Earlier in the year our Board, Executive and Senior Management agreed to a salary reduction to protect the business. As we are now in a stronger position than anticipated, we agreed that we can donate that money to MacMillan Cancer Support and MIND charities. This demonstrates a real empathy amongst our people, who are keen to help those charities which have also been hit hard by the events of this year.”
